 Additionally, the male partner of an older sibling may be referred to as a manong irrespective of the speaker's age relative to the partner (i.e., a male younger than the speaker may be called manong by virtue of status and not by age difference) although this is not always necessary.In traditional Filipino families, the manong acts as a third "parent" in the nuclear family and as one of the leaders in the extended family.Manong/manang is arguably the derivative of the Spanish word for brother/sister - "hermano" and "hermana".